Printing-type



BurienA STATES.'

PATENTV Ormes.

LINN BOYD BENTON, OF MILVAUKEE, VISCONSIN.

SPECIFICATION forming part ofkLetters Patent No. 290,201, dated December18, 1883. amputation nied'May s, 18H3. (No model.)

.To all whom, it may concern:

Be it known that I, LINN BOYD BENTON, of Milwaukee, in the county ofMilwaukee and State of Wisconsin, have invented certain new and usefulImprovements in Printing-Types, and I do hereby declare'that thefollowing is a full, clear, and exact description of the invention,which will enable others skilled in the art to which it pertains to makeand use the same.

The object of my invention is to do away with many difficultiesheretofore encountered in typesetting, and, in particular, in justifying7 the type after they are set up.

My invention relates to the scheme or plan for proportioning the widthof the bodies of the type and spaces runningwise relatively to eachother; and it consists in making each type-body of a character of aWidth runningwise which shall be an exact multiple of acertain fixed orstandard unit of measure, and each space either'equal to or a multipleof the same measure, which, for convenience, I de nominate the unit ofmeasure.

n It is well known that the runningwise widths of the bodies of thecharacters as heretofore constructed have borne no exact proportions toeach other, and that they either have been assumed arbitrarily, or havebeen fixed upon with a View directedonly to the size and artistic effectof the letters themselves, while the quads and'spaces employed, thoughproportioned relatively to each other, have that proportion based on thebodywise dimension or height of the letter alone.

As it is necessary that the type, when set up, shall exactly fill thespace allotted for the length of line employed, many different-sizedspaces have been heretofore used to exactly space and ll out the line,and this process of justifying is both tedious and troublesome.Again,when a type is removed for the correction of proof, and anothersubstituted, the line in which the change is made must often berejustifled by a substitution of new spaces.

By my invention, the widths of all the characters, spaces, and quadshaving a iixed and,

absolute proportion to each other, the compositor can place and justifyhis work with ease, regularity, and certainty.

In the accompanying drawing, forming a part of my specification, I showa face view of wise width to theunit of measure. r Thetype? bodies ofall the other spaces, quads,and char acters are inrunningwise widthmultiples of this unit.

I prefer to make the lower-case or small letters of the followingrunningwise widths, viz: a, four units; b, four units, c, three units;vd, four units;v e, three units; f, two units; g,three units; h, fourunits; i, two units; j, two units; k, four units, l, two units; m, sixunits; n, four units; o, four units; r, three units; s, three units; v,four units; w, five units; z, three units;` q, four units; u, fourunits; y, four units; p, four units; x, four units 5 t, three units, andthe `punctuation-marks two units, except the interrogatioirmark, whichis three units. The capital letters I place on bodies which are mul=tiples of the same unit.

It is not necessary in order to justify my improved type to have anyspace of a less runningwise width than the unit, and the other spacesand quads are multiples' of thisv unitspace in width. j It will thus beseen that a width of page or column can be first fixed upon which is amultiple of the unit of measure, and that the compositor can set up thetype and see exactly as he reaches the end of the l'ine what and howmany spaces are needed to justify it, and can place these unerringlywithout being obliged to make a second trial.

Instead of forming the letter o on afour-unit y body, it may be formedon a three-unit body. The former is shown at 4 and the latter at 3 inthe drawing. The letter t may be formed on a three-unit body, as at 5,or on a two-unit body, as at 6. The letter f maybe formed with its upperportion overhanging, as at 7, or not, as at 8. Twosimilarlysdistinguished forms of the letter j are shown at 9 and 10.

Although my invention involves a radical departure from the old methodor system, it will be observed that the form and proportions of theletters as they meet the eye are not greatly changed from their oldappear ance. In the drawing, a, b, p, and q have been slightly enlarged.c, d, g, h, i, k, l, m, n, s,

IOO

u, v, w, X, andzhave not been changed. e is condensed a trifle. o isslightly extended. rllhe letter t is the only one in which the changewould be noticed by a non-expert observer.

One incidental advantage of my improvement is that damaged types may beshortened and used-for spaces. The space 2 in the drawing shows one ofthe old or ordinary spaces, and it will be observed that its use leavesthe line short a small and irregular` space, which a compositor may beobliged to make several successive attempts in order to lill. Thisdelays the operation of type-setting. Several fonts of ty 3e may bebased upon a common unit of measure, so that they will justify with eachother runningwise indiscriminately. The different sizes bodywise of thetype may also be based on different units of measure, which are soproportioned to eaeh other that there shall be a common iiliiltiple ofall the unitsas, for instance, all the units may be aliquot parts ofthirteen ems pica, or any other measure which may be adoptedwithouthaving any necessary proportion between the several units and thebodywise dimension of the type. This is desirable in order to create asimilarity of appearance in aseries consisting of type of differentsizes bodywise.

Type made according to my plan are also more easily iinished bymachinery,as the fewer widths of type-bodies necessitate less changesand the spaces oi' which are similarly equal to l said unit andmultiples thereof.

In testimony that I claim the foregoing as my ownlafx my signatureinpresence of two witnesses.

LINN BOYD BENTON.

lWitnesses:

E. G. DoNiiLDsoN, E. H. BoT'rUn.

